What does victimology mean?
Victimology is the study of victims of crime and victimization, including how harm affects people and how legal, social, and psychological institutions respond. It may examine victim blaming, underreporting, compensation, public safety, recovery, and the differing effects of crime on different communities. The word is most common in academic, forensic, criminological, and policy-making contexts. Although victimology is related to criminology, it gives particular attention to the experiences and consequences of being harmed rather than studying crime in general. It should not be confused with victimization, which is the process of making someone a victim, or with the claim that a victim is responsible for their own treatment. Victimology is a useful term because it foregrounds questions that may otherwise be overlooked when attention remains concentrated on offenders, criminal conduct, and punishment.
nounVictimology is the academic study of people who are victims of crime, focusing on their experiences, the effects of victimization, and the social, psychological, and legal responses to it.
- The academic study of victims of crime, including their experiences, the consequences of victimization, and the institutional and social responses to harm.
"Her research in victimology examines how victims experience justice and recover from financial loss."
"Victimology has challenged the assumption that victims should expect responsibility for their own victimization."
"The seminar in victimology considered how race, gender, and economic status affect access to justice."
The plural is grammatically correct but uncommon in ordinary usage.
"The course compares victimologies of fraud and domestic abuse."
Victimology turns the spotlight away from the offender and toward the person who was harmed—and asks why the victim's story is so often the shorter one.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of victimology
Victimology was formed in English during the 20th century from victim and the combining form -ology, meaning the study of a subject. Victim came through Old French from Latin victima, meaning a sacrificial victim. Related English forms such as victimize and victimization were also developed from the same Latin-derived root.
Related word forms
How victimology is actually used
Victimology is chiefly formal and academic. It is normally used for the systematic study of victims and victimization, not for ordinary discussion of whether someone has been victimized.
Easily confused with victimology
Victimology focuses on people who have been victimized and on the consequences of crime for them, whereas criminology studies crime more broadly, including its causes, commission, prevention, and punishment.
Victimology is the study of victims and victimization, while victimization is the process of making someone a victim.